This invention relates to a disposable undergarment adapted to absorb body excretion and then to hold it.
Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 1992-15921A discloses a disposable diaper comprising a liquid-pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious base sheet, a liquid-absorbent panel disposed between these two sheets, and a non-stretchable apertured sheet having a plurality of pores wherein each of the apertures has an opening area of about 2 mm2-about 100 mm2. This diaper is partially depressed in its thickness direction to define a pocket for feces. The porous sheet has its length as measured in a longitudinal direction shorter than that of the diaper and longitudinally opposite end portions of this apertured sheet are bonded to longitudinally opposite end portions of the diaper so as to cover the topsheet. The longitudinally opposite end portions lie above a level of the topsheet so that a longitudinally middle region of the apertured sheet is spaced upward from the topsheet and thereby defines a space between the topsheet and the apertured sheet.
With this diaper of prior art, loose feces is guided through the apertures of the apertured sheet into the pocket and only a small amount of loose feces held on the apertured sheet may cling to the wearer""s skin. In this way, eruption of the wearer""s skin due to loose feces clinging thereto can be minimized.
The apertured sheet has a plurality of apertures each dimensioned to pass body excretion such as urine or loose feces and therefore such excretion still held on the topsheet may flow back as the apertured sheet and the topsheet come in contact with each other. With this diaper of prior art, the apertured sheet is not elastically stretchable in the longitudinal direction of the diaper. In other words, the apertured sheet has no elastic force under which the longitudinally middle region of the apertured sheet is spaced upward from the topsheet as the diaper curves in the longitudinal direction with the topsheet inside and thereby this middle region comes in close contact with the wearer""s crotch region. With this known diaper put on the wearer""s body, the apertured sheet is slackened and its longitudinally middle region comes in contact with the topsheet. Consequently, the amount of body excretion flowing back through the apertured sheet may cling to the wearer""s skin.
It is an object of this invention to provide a disposable undergarment provided with skin-contactable sheets adapted to be placed very stably against the wearer""s crotch region as the undergarment is put on the wearer""s body and thereby to prevent an amount of urine or loose feces still held on a skin-contactable surface of the undergarment from clinging to the wearer""s skin.
According to this invention, there is provided a disposable undergarment comprising a liquid-impervious base sheet contoured by longitudinally opposite end portions extending in a transverse direction and transversely opposite side edge portions extending in a longitudinal direction, and a liquid-absorbent panel attached to the base sheet wherein the article has a skin-contactable surface on which the panel lies and a non skin-contactable surface opposed to the skin-contactable surface.
The skin-contactable sheets being stretchable in the longitudinal direction and substantially liquid-impervious are attached under extension in the longitudinal direction to the skin-contactable surface of the undergarment so as to cover the panel, the skin-contactable sheets having fixed surface areas secured to the longitudinally opposite end portions, respectively, and free surface areas extending between respective pairs of the fixed surface areas and not fixed to the undergarment so as to be spaced upward from the panel as the article curves in the longitudinal direction with its skin-contactable surface inside, wherein the skin-contactable surface of the article is provided with regions in which the skin-contactable sheets are absent so that the skin-contacting surface inclusive of the panel is partially surface in the regions.
According to one embodiment of this invention, the skin-contactable sheets actually comprise a pair of belt-like strips spaced from and opposed to each other in the transverse direction and respectively extending along the transversely opposite side edge portions of the undergarment in the longitudinal direction so that the skin-contactable surface inclusive of the panel may be partially surfaced between these skin-contactable sheets.
According to another embodiment of this invention, the undergarment further comprises a pair of substantially liquid-impervious leak-barrier cuffs spaced apart from and opposed to each other in the transverse direction and respectively extending along the transversely opposite side edge portions of the undergarment, the leak-barrier cuffs being disposed between the base sheet and the skin-contactable sheets and attached under extension in the longitudinal direction to the skin-contacting surface of the undergarment, the leak-barrier cuffs having fixed side edge portions secured to the transversely opposite side edge portions of the undergarment and extending in the longitudinal direction, free side edge portions being stretchable in the longitudinal direction and normally biased to rise on the skin-contactable surface and longitudinally opposite fixed end portions collapsed onto the skin-contactable surface and fixed to the longitudinally opposite end portions of the undergarment in such collapsed state so that the free surface area of the skin-contactable sheet is kept spaced upward from the free side edge portions of the leak-barrier cuffs.
According to still another embodiment of this invention, the skin-contactable sheet is made of an elastically stretchable fibrous nonwoven fabric.
According to further another embodiment of this invention, the skin-contactable sheet is made of a non-stretchable fibrous nonwoven fabric and elastically stretchable members are attached under extension in the longitudinal direction to the non-stretchable fibrous fabric so that the skin-contactable sheet may have stretchability in the longitudinal direction.